Europe is learning the hard way that it has been far too reliant on Russian energy. Before the invasion, Russia supplied 45 per cent of European natural gas. With that supply now cut off, Europe needs to rebuild its energy security for the coming winter and the decades to follow.
Canadian natural gas could help many countries get off coal, which emits almost 50 per cent more CO2 per energy unit. India generates about 70 per cent of its electricity with coal. Even Europe still relies on it for about 20 per cent of its electricity generation. Shifting from coal to Canadian natural gas would yield big gains in reducing overall CO2 emissions globally, but it would run afoul of Canada’s domestic climate change targets and the CO2 emission caps in the energy sector designed to help achieve these targets.
How do we start thinking and acting globally about energy use? We can push for a system of global energy substitution credits, where exported gas that is substituted for coal in other countries receives a credit against the national emissions target of the exporting country. The system would be verifiable, economically efficient and totally consistent with climate change being a global, rather than national problem. It would also improve geopolitical security as many of the developing countries that could switch to Canadian gas would otherwise buy from Russia.
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